It's definitely a good deal now that you can take your phone to the Apple Store. I had to use ST to replace my iPhone 4 that I dropped in a cup of Gatorade. I had to send it in to them and was without a phone for 5 days. I use my phone for business so being without it was tough for me.

I have had good results with SquareTrade. My last iPhone developed a battery problem. SquareTrade offered for either me sending it to them or the reimbursement route for me to deal with Apple. I chose the Apple repair route because I've read some negative things and have seen pictures (here and otherwise) about what ST did with repairs when they got them to do themselves. Kind of scary.

For some odd reason, SquareTrade wanted me to submit it for Apple to replace the entire phone at the out-of-warranty replacement cost. I wrote back and questioned that since the battery replacement fee is MUCH cheaper. (Even more odd is that a battery replacement gets you a phone swap anyhow and they didn't seem to know that.) They said that was fine with them.

I contacted Apple, did the battery claim, and paid for it. I submitted the paid Apple invoice to SquareTrade and they processed a reimbursement two days later. I couldn't have had it go any easier.

Buy it on a Visa (other credit cards have similar features) and they add a whole year warranty to your purchase. I used this on a Sony laptop that had the screen die on me. It took a couple weeks but they sent me a check for the total value of the laptop. I had it for 1 year and 10 months too. Free!

...I wonder what percent of people cash in on applecare+....at most 15%? Insurance is a very profitable game

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Bottom line - ANY insurance plan is a profit center for the insurance company. If you really get to use it, a good deal for you. In the big picture, way more people do NOT use it, which is why insurance companies are rich.

A friend reached for it the first day I had it and it flew out our hands and broke. Second time my 3 year old cousin was playing with it, dropped it and it broke, third time my dad was angry with me, he threw it, it broke. The dad thing I don't mind, I was extremely disrespectful, and no, he didn't buy it for me and I'm not a child, 21 year old college student with crappy luck.

First time I mailed it in and got it back 4 days later which sucked because I had just got it, the second and third time I went to genius bar, they paypal'd me the money in 3 days. I highly highly recommend it.

A friend reached for it the first day I had it and it flew out our hands and broke. Second time my 3 year old cousin was playing with it, dropped it and it broke, third time my dad was angry with me, he threw it, it broke. The dad thing I don't mind, I was extremely disrespectful, and no, he didn't buy it for me and I'm not a child, 21 year old college student with crappy luck.

First time I mailed it in and got it back 4 days later which sucked because I had just got it, the second and third time I went to genius bar, they paypal'd me the money in 3 days. I highly highly recommend it.

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Boy,that sucks, but what a testament for the company. Thanks for sharing.

I have squaretrade warranty on my iPhone 4 and I've had an okay experience. I once accidentally dropped my phone and the screen shattered. I then filed a claims with them and within a few hours it was accepted and I could take it to an apple store or mail it in. I opted to go to the apple store but here was the problem when I gave them the phone they resisted doing an out-of-warranty swap because the phones parts have to be accessible. So I was forced to send my phone in. So, I called Squaretrade the next morning and they overnighted me a new phone from this repair company in California. I got a new phone the next day and placed my broken iPhone in the box and shipped it back to the repair company. Everything was great until a week or two. Randomly the back casing of the iPhone fell over just out the blue. Screws were still in tack and everything on the bottom near the speakers. I called them and they said they will overnight me a new phone. They did and it was from the same company in California again and I did the same procedure. Everything was great again for a week or so and the same thing happened again! The backing casing came off. It was the weirdest thing so because I was very frustrated (I never dropped the phones they sent me or anything) I went to the Apple store to see what was up and if they could just give me a new phone that I could trust. Well they checked out the phone in their backroom and came back and told me that the phone was tampered with. They showed me some screws which were stripped and they again resisted to do an out-of-warranty swap but I told them I had a Square trade warranty and they gave me this phone. They told me to call them and complain and tell them to give me a new phone. Well I did just that and they did the same exact thing (send me a new phone from the same California repair company overnighted). I got it and, I've had this phone now for about 4-5 months and the back casing hasn't fell off! So frustrating though, but once I got everything working there has been no issues.

I have squaretrade warranty on my iPhone 4 and I've had an okay experience. I once accidentally dropped my phone and the screen shattered. I then filed a claims with them and within a few hours it was accepted and I could take it to an apple store or mail it in. I opted to go to the apple store but here was the problem when I gave them the phone they resisted doing an out-of-warranty swap because the phones parts have to be accessible. So I was forced to send my phone in. So, I called Squaretrade the next morning and they overnighted me a new phone from this repair company in California. I got a new phone the next day and placed my broken iPhone in the box and shipped it back to the repair company. Everything was great until a week or two. Randomly the back casing of the iPhone fell over just out the blue. Screws were still in tack and everything on the bottom near the speakers. I called them and they said they will overnight me a new phone. They did and it was from the same company in California again and I did the same procedure. Everything was great again for a week or so and the same thing happened again! The backing casing came off. It was the weirdest thing so because I was very frustrated (I never dropped the phones they sent me or anything) I went to the Apple store to see what was up and if they could just give me a new phone that I could trust. Well they checked out the phone in their backroom and came back and told me that the phone was tampered with. They showed me some screws which were stripped and they again resisted to do an out-of-warranty swap but I told them I had a Square trade warranty and they gave me this phone. They told me to call them and complain and tell them to give me a new phone. Well I did just that and they did the same exact thing (send me a new phone from the same California repair company overnighted). I got it and, I've had this phone now for about 4-5 months and the back casing hasn't fell off! So frustrating though, but once I got everything working there has been no issues.

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That's odd, my experience with out of warranty is that apple just does it, I had a jail broken iPad reached out of warranty.

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